The Foundations of Modern FreemasonryThe Grand Architects – Political Change
and the Scientific Enlightenment, 1714–1740

Revised Second Edition

Ric Berman

Richard
('Ric) Berman holds an MA in Economics from the University
of Cambridge and a PhD in History from the University of Exeter.
He is a past Senior Visiting Researcher at the MEHRC at the
University of Oxford, and a past Research Fellow at Oxford
Brookes University. A sister book, Schism, was published in
2013; a second companion volume – Loyalists & Malcontents – is currently being completed

Following
the appointment of its first aristocratic Grand Masters in the 1720s
and in the wake of its connections to the scientific Enlightenment,
‘Free and Accepted’ Masonry rapidly became part of Britain’s national
profile and the largest and most influential of Britain’s extensive
clubs and societies. The organisation did not evolve naturally from
the mediaeval guilds and religious orders that pre-dated it, but
was reconfigured radically by a largely self-appointed inner core,
becoming a vehicle for the expression of their political and religious
views. It also championed scientific Enlightenment concepts and attracted
an aspirational membership from the upper middling and gentry.
…Through an examination of new and previously unexplored primary documentation,
the book contributes to an understanding of contemporary English political and
social culture and explores how Freemasonry became a mechanism that promoted
the interests of the Hanoverian establishment and connected élite metropolitan
and provincial figures. Social networks centred on the aristocracy, parliament,
the learned and professional societies, and the magistracy, are explored, and
key individuals instrumental in spreading the Masonic message evaluated.

Foundations, and Schism (Sussex
Academic, 2013), have been described as ‘the most important on English Freemasonry
published in recent times’ and providing
‘a precise, social context for the invention of English Freemasonry’. Berman’s
analysis throws a new and original light on the formation and development of
what rapidly became a national and international phenomenon.

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

One: English Freemasonry before the Formation
of Grand Lodge

Two: John Theophilus Desaguliers: Homo Masonicus

Three: Grand Lodge: The Inner Workings

Four: The Professional Nexus

Five: The Rise of the First Noble Grand Masters

Six: ‘Through the paths of heavenly science’

Seven: Conclusion

Appendices

Abbreviations

Electronic Reading and Research

Selected Bibliography

Index

“The
transformation of English Freemasonry after the foundation
of the Grand Lodge of England
in 1717 was especially marked by the (largely nominal) leadership
of young pro-Hanoverian Whig aristocrats who transformed Freemasonry
into an important component of the economic, scientific, social,
and political changes of the 18th century. Freemasonry rapidly
became an important facet of the upper reaches of English society,
and Berman (Oxford) traces the role these aristocratic architects
played in the formation of what quickly became the most prominent
and socially elite fraternal order of the modern era. There
were important connections between Freemasonry and the judiciary,
the Royal Society, and other learned and professional societies.
Berman provides a useful introduction to these key figures,
as well as a series of valuable appendixes, giving readers
the Grand Officers of the Grand Lodge of England, excerpts
from
the Masonic 1723 Constitutions, a list of the various military
lodges, and an inventory of the Masonic membership of selected
professional societies. Although its origins as a doctoral
thesis
are all too clear, this remains a valuable work for serious
Masonic historians. Recommended.” Choice

Review by Dr Bob James,
Newcastle, UK,of Foundations of Modern Freemasonry
and Schism – The Battle that Forged Freemasonry

These two books, in my opinion, are the most important on English freemasonry
published in recent times.

The
first introduces the crucial networking which produced the
first buzz of interest in freemasonry in 1720s London. The
second describes the battle between London’s established
Grand Lodge, the ‘Moderns’, and the lower middling, largely
Irish, ‘Antients.’

In Foundations,
Berman located new material showing the predominance of magistrates
in Masonry’s most sociable and therefore most influential
lodges and the bridge freemasonry provided between Newtonian
theory and its application. Masonic lectures and demonstrations
of ‘natural philosophy’ fed directly into the engineering
and hydraulic schemes driving the industrial revolution and
their popularity enhanced freemasonry’s image as THE society
for the upwardly mobile.

In
Berman’s view, English freemasonry was a deliberate creation
of a few members of the Horn Tavern able to convince leading
politicians and aristocrats to join. The argument has profoundly
political and religious implications and in highlighting
them Berman has done a great service to scholars of Masonry.
In showing how the organisation changed soon after it began,
was challenged and forced to reform he has ensured that assertions
that freemasonry was somehow immutable can no longer be made.

Where
Berman’s first volume was centred on personalities and their
unique histories, his second concerns the collective experiences
of two distinct social groups. He brings ‘the Antients’ to
life, delves into their occupations, communities and grievances
against the original Grand Lodge.

Berman
reports the evidence that suggests that Antient freemasonry
was an association of friends, neighbours and co-workers,
‘the large majority of whom lived and laboured’ close to
one another. From the middling and lower classes, these men
were concerned with the financial security fraternalism could
offer and formed recognisable ‘mutual benefit funds’.

The
two volumes are extremely well produced and both are credits
to their publishers and their printers. But the warmest appreciation
must go to the researcher and author, Ric Berman, in providing
a precise, social context for the invention of English Freemasonry.

Publication Details

Hardback ISBN:

978-1-84519-479-6

Paperback ISBN:

978-1-84519-506-9

2nd Edition Paperback ISBN:

978-1-84519-698-1

Page Extent / Format:

320 pp. / 234 x 156 mm

Release Date:

1st Edition, December 2011; 2nd Edition, November 2014

Illustrated:

Yes

Hardback Price:

£55.00 / $79.50

Paperback Price:

£25.00 / $39.95

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